While working this afternoon [20 December 2008], I received a telephone call saying that a batch of cats were going to be shipped to Guangzhou, asking everyone to bring cat food, water, etc. and go rescue the cats. Even though we are Guangdong people [Cantonese] , we long ago despised those heartless Guangdong people who eat cats, these people having made all of us lose face. Cats, dogs, all are very kind-hearted, affectionate animals, and absolutely should not be eaten. Moreover, eating cats or dogs is not healthy and not hygienic, none of them having been inspected by the Food Safety Administration, so who knows why these damned people would go eat them. Today, we want to go stop these cats pitiful fate, using all of our power to go save them.

If they were serious, they would not eat anything with a face, on one hand eating mutton and on the other hand discussion how to stop others from eating cats, NB people.

You people, with your so-called compassion, why do you not go help disaster areas or with Hope projects?
You people, with so much time on your hands, why do you not go study hard or work hard?
You people, with such an intense sense of justice, why do you not go crack down on crime or prevent corruption?
A 17-year-old MM as the leader? Have you graduated from middle school yet?
Only knowing how to blindly cause disturbances!
If you saw someone stealing a pursue, robbing, or bullying others, would you go stop them?
You guys have too much time on your hands, do not use your hypocrisy to show off your guys’ compassion!
You not eating cats does not mean you are great and pure!
Although I have never eaten cat meat, I never felt that cats cannot be eaten. After seeing this post, I decided that I must try the taste of cat meat in the future.

Would it not be easier to just kill all Guangdong people?
Wasting all that energy just to go stop a train…

SB250, if you have the compassion, go be concerned about the disaster areas, okay?

Kitty cats are so cute, how can you manage to eat them?

Who will come rescue our cute pigs?!

Pigs, my poor pigs! You cruel people! How can you do this to pigs?! I call forth all Moppers who love pigs to also come surround and forcibly stop trains! The big pig rescue operation/movement!

I do not promote nor am I against eating cat, but when a few people stopping others from eating cats I bet the pigs, cows, and sheep all feel puzzled.

When sleeping at night, do not TMD swat mosquitoes. Such false kind-heartedness.

The reason humans raise animals is to resolve the problem of finding food. When food became sufficient, it gave rise to pets and related things. So, eating cats is actually not a problem, not worth going against or worth supporting. Treat it as normal. When a cat is your own pet, take good care of it, but when it becomes food, it is also not worth fighting against.

If she brings it home, would she be able to raise it? Where would she raise it?
If you do not cull cats [for epidemic prevention], they will the same as mice as a source of disease.

Those people who eat [cats] will all get their just deserts. I support that young girl’s actions, but depending on just her efforts as one person simply will not change much. If the government does not care, our concern as ordinary people is not much use. Cats have souls, those who eat them will get retribution…

The main thing is that their way of eating cats is too cruel, so I suggest killing them more quickly [humanely]. Boiling them alive…too “KB” [恐怖 = kongbu = terrifying]!!! Kill them quickly like the way pigs are killed, then eat them~~~cows, horses, pigs, sheep, which of these are not known as humanity’s friends? So why do we not see people go rescue them?! Unless you are a vegetarian, you have no qualifications to say anything.

Too cruel, can it be that they do not know ecological balance?

Either you buy them and take him home to raise, or you shut your mouth and quietly stay at home.

NB people, you guys pay so much attention to a single cat’s fate, yet there are so many homeless bums on the streets of Guangzhou, so many laid-off unemployed workers, but do you pay attention to them?!? Stop pretending like you guys have so much compassion. Remember, that is not called compassion. When you do not even go pay attention to human conditions, do not tarnish the word “compassion!”

I agree with most of the above people’s views, this MM is indeed a S…B…, with nothing better to do.
You see so many pigs, sheep, chickens, ducks, they are also pretty cute animals, so why do you not also go stop their [shipping] trucks/trains? Is it only because cats and dogs are a bit more cute?
Also, do not compare cats and dogs with humans.

You guys probably have never raised cats before~~underestimating their reproduction abilities…if people do not eat them..they will eat people into poverty…even though I do not eat cats and dogs…

There are no Guangdong people who do not eat [cat meat]!

To protect these little animals only depending individual people’s strength is difficult to implement/realize~
I hope everyone can unite together to fight against this kind of disgusting behavior!
Poor cats and dogs.

Specially set up a cat-raising factory/farm, that is specially responsible for raising cat-meat.
If you want people to treat eating cat meat the same as eating pork and beef, first set up a cat-raising factory/farm.

I do not like cats, I like dogs, hehe, but I too have never eaten cat meat, and feel it is pretty cruel. In the past, I had dog meat once, but after that, I have never eaten it again. It is too too too cruel, and I could not swallow it. They are all the same as humans, have thoughts, have brains, and have souls. I am truly afraid they will come find us after they are dead [as ghosts]~

Only those who have seen dogs and cats being killed believe it is cruel.

My hope would be that she can catalyze a movement in GZ to curb demand while at the same time create enough of a public relations issue for those parties that are crating and selling house pets for food.

Ronnie

@Sinosceptic, I don’t see the point of connecting cat-eating with human rights except for sounding patronizing.

Cat-eating may be part of the subculture of Southeastern China, which has been recently found to be repulsive due to cats’ rising status as pets. Understandably, you find it contrary to your belief system. So do I. But, that does not warrant your standpoint on the ‘5000 years of civilization’ and human rights. You are plainly prejudiced and arrogant. So people in the west think they are morally superior to the Chinese? What a joke!

SniperWZ

Most Hindus would consider you beefeaters (including myself) scum of the earth…

Pieman

I voted for cats as delicious in the poll. Who’s the other 5?

Parapraxis

meat is meat. It is the psychological connection we have that allows us to differentiate between “pets” and “food.”

Or perhaps it’s the dissociation between the cute little farm animals raised in the country and the neat, antiseptic packaging of tender little cuts of succulent meat at the local market that prevents the cognitive association of the two.

Hammy

What gives cats and dogs more rights than cows and pigs? What makes them more of human’s friends than those species that we eat everyday?Is it just for their nature of being cute and submissivity? Who can talk about animal rights under that pretext without being super hypocritical?

@Sinosceptic
Your first sentence is blatant racism. It’s okay if you express your closet-sino-racism under the disguise of criticizing the government for human rights. (Although it’s funny that you are even talking about the human rights of Chinese people when you clearly hate Chinese so much. Don’t you feel better if the government oppress those “backwards bunch of superstitous fuckwits” harder?) Just keep it under control. If you say it outloud, it makes me feel like I am obliged to waste my time replying to you.

Fuller

I too don’t really have a problem with the idea of eating animals that are traditionally thought of as pets. I ate dog when i was in North Korea, and it was delicious! Really! Actually, all I had was a puppy (I wasn’t hungry enough for a dog).

I guess the problem I have is those pictures of cats piled up in crates like that. I know it’s really no different than the chickens KFC stocks in warehouses that spend their whole lives in a cage barely bigger than they are (and I loooooooove KFC!), but I guess it’s because cats are cute and I used to have a cat (until I ate it – jk) that it made my stomach turn.

I’ve often laughed at people who make these distinctions, but it’s true – we feel sorry for the cute animals, but not the ugly or just regular ones.

I say more power to her! That’s what youth is for – fighting against perceived injustices.

Peteryang

Nice to see them taking their voices to the street and actually acted to change things, they are the hope of our future generation, and civil society is not too far away. I would have joined them if I were there.

Guangzhouers have a SOLID reputation of eating all sorts of junk, from ermine skin to snake, and recently I heard theres dolphin soup on their menu. LULZ.

There was also a small gathering by beijing pet lovers at beijing’s guangzhou affairs office, to protest the exact same thing, though I am sure who inspired who. I saw photos showing a woman crying as she spoke to journalist, I feel for them.

Technically however, there isn’t much difference between having a piece of medium-red sirloin steak (preferrably with fries and salad, ehh.. I am hungry) and eating steamed cat meat, it all boils down to individual’s value. Chinese have been eating dogs for quite some time and no one ever gave a fucet, its only during the olympics that government banned this practice across beijing.

I personally would never eat cats, it offends my conscience, they are just too cute to be harmed, plus I have a wide selection of protein sources from ordinary livestock, there need not to be any addition.

Kellen

i support the effort solely based on it being an attempt at creating change in a system where they see a need for change. however i’d have to echo previous commenters that freeing a bunch of cats won’t solve it. if they really want to see it change they should instead target the customers who buy cat in the first place with awareness campaigns etc.

i’d bet as long as people buy them, restaurants will keep serving them. i doubt they’d take a loss of profit because someone said their dish was cute.

Peteryang

@kellen

given china’s conservative and tight society they can’t be very loud at start, campaigning at supermarkets like american presidential election would mean handing their asses to the police, then they will be unable to go further.

so what they did was appropriate, I hope they keep up this good work.

from my observation, southeners have a strong sense of civil society and rights, no wonder the reform began from Shenzhen, modern politics can flourish there, as I wish so.

Peteryang

I am disheartened at some of the attached comments calling them hyporits, these ppl should die in a fire. This is about a new China, A FUCKING NEW CHINA.

blackasianlover

Angle aka “Angle” is pwetty. Did she leave her contact information by any chance?

Peteryang

whoa, someone is ON.

Samael

take away the cats from the subject, its good to see that Chinese are able to gather and protest, even if only about stupid stuff. Although i suspect that if they protested about more serious concerns their little party would have been promptly shut down

Mike

Some of the original posts criticized these people for helping cats when there are other more important issues. I’ve always hated this kind of empty argument. Since there is a problem of magnitude 10 it means you can’t do something to fix the problem that’s only magnitude 2 or 3? That’s stupid and the people that suggest cat-lovers should be putting their resources to better use probably do nothing to help anyone. While at least the cat-lover is doing something positive and more often than not, people who are compasionate towards animals are just as compasionate or more so towards people.

Another note, there is little or no oversite in China for cat, dog, civet, etc meat, so these animals are much less hygenic/safe to eat than pork, beef, or mutton which actually have regulations regarding how theyre raised, slaughtered, shipped, packed, stored. These dogs and cats have plenty of parasites, viruses, etc. that can easily effect people and pets. So, whether you agree with eating dogs and cats or not, the way it is done in China is unsafe for people. That alone should be reason to stop it, or at least regulate it.

FangYao

great girl
of course human rights is about animal rights as well, we are animal.
I am not anti people who are eating animal meat, that is natural.but when you enjoy the food everyday, please spend a little bit more time to care about the animals is also important.

Rick in China

I have no beef with eating cats or dogs, I mean, even eating man meat is a prerequisite for any of my girlfriends.

Peteryang

I used to eat my fingernail, does that count as eating human??

Veer Left

When I was new to this country I asked a coworker what Chinese people didn’t eat. She said that there was no beast under heaven and earth that Chinese didn’t want to eat, and was quite proud of it too. I waited a few minutes and then the conversation drifted to something else wherein I had reason to ask if she believed that humans were also animals… much like dolphins, chimps etc. She said yes, but of course.
I then made a quip about having a solution for Chinese overpopulation and world hunger… she didn’t get it.

Jim

I don’t eat any meat myself (and I hear Rick in China’s girlfriend’s only get the tiniest nibble :p) but the “meat is meat” argument is patently bollocks. Most cultures distinguish between eating herbivores and other omni-/carnivores for either taste or health reasons.

(and I hear Rick in China’s girlfriend’s only get the tiniest nibble :p)

LoL, sorry, buddy, but even you have to admit that was a cute jab at you.

smickno

Eating cat meat or any meat is a matter of taste. Some people like beef, others lamb, others chicken.

When emotional attachment develops with those animals which we have domesticated and keep as house pets, there are bound to be protests coming from those who love their (and all) cats, dogs and even monkeys…in some countries, monkey’s brain is a delicacy.

Question: do animals have a soul? do they feel pain? Do we want to inflict pain? Have we seen the tears in the mother cow while she watches her young calf being led to the slaughter?

Muslims slaughter animals in the least painful way.

Peteryang

do animals have a soul?
positive

do they feel pain?
positive. pets can have depressive disorder just like humans.

Do we want to inflict pain?
no if not for meals

Have we seen the tears in the mother cow while she watches her young calf being led to the slaughter?
haven’t heard this. my gateguard dog used to eat her babies so we had to seperate them, which is a firm sign that animals adopt another set of logic and moral, until we can read their mind its silly to judge them with our standards.

latest study reveals that plants have emotions and are able to react to surrounding conditions.

nature holds so many secrets that our studies so far have only touched the surface.

Rick in China

@ Jim
RE: “Most cultures distinguish between eating herbivores and other omni-/carnivores for either taste or health reasons”

That’s ridiculous – “many cultures” meaning your clearly small exposure to world cultures present and past, perhaps. In fact many cultures in the past have eaten other humans, or parts of humans, to some extent, it’s even mentioned in the bible and other ancient texts. I don’t get your classification of edible based on animals being herb/omni/carnivorous either, there’s little to no relation – are you implying people don’t eat bear meat? There are lots of bears in Canada, and many Canadians have tried bear meat, your writing style implies GB which lets me know you don’t have many carnivore/omnivores available for eating thus your small perspective on what people deem edible…ridiculous – I suppose South America, Africa, North American, Australian rules don’t apply.

@Smickno
RE: “Question: do animals have a soul? do they feel pain?” A question to answer your question, do HUMANS have souls? I think not, personally, just electrochemical impulses. Do animals feel pain, though, of course – pain can be measured. Unless you mean emotional pain, to which yes – many animals feel what we consider ’emotional’ pain as can be seen from a female dog losing all her puppies and acting apparently ‘insane’ afterwards. Some animals are less maternal.

“Muslims slaughter animals in the least painful way.” While their religious text preach this – only kill what you need to eat and kill etc etc also, it’s a cultural rather than religious phenom in the west. There are huge movements pushing “Kind” animal killing for food, humane ways to manage and kill our meat supply, and it’s not based on religion.

@Kai
I suppose, but it could have been a lot better – I pretty much intended to lay it out for a plain beating with that pun-filled statement….kind of disappointed that’s all I got back :)

FangYao

of course it is silly to judge them by our standards
so which standard should we use??
what ever human & animal ,we all have commons, the action by love and care will be always welcome. better than nothing
the more important is you try to help, that is the hope for the world.

smickno

@Peteryang

You are right to say that we don’t know all there is to know about animals, and they do exhibit dfferent behaviours/responses in identical stimulus. But do you agree that generally, animals, including humans, would protect their young. Understand you have not seen tears in the eyes of mummy cow, but those are real tears.

Based on your reasoning, that we dun understand animals fully, maybe we should say that those tears were because the butcher preferred a small calf to HER, and so mummy cow cried because she was upset that she wasn’t selected for the killing.

@Rick in China
You are funny. I like your electrochemical theory. About pain, I was referring to physical pain when nerves send electrochemical signals to the brain. Your enlarging my question to include emotional pain has given to another dimension to it: do we want to inflict physical and/or emotional pain?

Sure, muslims do not have monopoly in inflicting the minimum of pain. Anyway, pain is pain, however minimal it is.

Jim

I’m widely read enough in the anthropological literature to stand by that “most cultures” distinction, Rick. You’re clearly pulling your assertions out your arse. Raising the issue of cannibalism shows that – you ought to be aware that eating other humans primarily had ritual or religious connotations, such as possessing the power of a defeated enemy by eating their heart, rather than being just another item on the ordinary menu. The cannibalism seen during the Cultural Revolution fits the same pattern.

Rick in China

@Smickno
Do you believe plants feel pain? Seeing as you define (in agreement) pain as electrical stimulus sent to a nervous system which ends in a reaction we term ‘physical pain’, I believe plants have been proven to also share similar reactions to being chopped (while still alive). Because your vegetables or fruit comes dead off of the tree or out of the ground, at that point you’re simply chopping up or chomping on a dead animal, in essence.

Look up information regarding plans emitting VOCs (volatile organic compounds) as a result of stressful environmental situations, or damage/aggression. They too, feel pain – oh, poor Bonzai plant, please don’t shed a tear when your limbs are chopped slowly over the course of decades — what a cruel form of torture.

We don’t “want” to inflict pain on animals when we kill them for food – but we want to kill them so we can consume them, just because someone kills a dog or a cat doesn’t mean they “want to inflict pain on animals” – they may just want to kill them so they can consume them.

smickno

@Jim

….such as possessing the power of a defeated enemy by eating their heart…

I wonder what power people get by comsuming the heart of a loser.

@Rick in China
So it is about human semantics. What we coined as pain may not be pain in another language. By the way, do plants have a brain to decipher eletrochemical stimulus?

And my question has been answered after all: we do not want to inflict pain for the sake of inflicting it, but for the love of eating beef, lamb, Colonel’s chicken, pain and death are necessary.

Someone must die so we can live.

Peteryang

I think theres a fine line between animal cruelty and natural process, take chicken for example:

-cruelty: slowly chop off its wings and legs, extract its intestine, cut the tongue, poke the eyes, then put it in a boiling pot and watch as it is excruciated to death.

-natural process: chop its head off with one quick blow, make sure its dead, then do whatever you want.

水煮活猫 belongs to cruelty, period.

no men can be free of his conscience, or at least, not me.

fireworks

People in China and especially in Guangdong eat anything under the sun. This is the first time I’ve heard about domestic cats as human food. I know dogs, rats, frogs, you name it are edible well according to Chinese culinary standards.

In the west, Cats have been domesticated as used as pets for hundreds of years. Now you look in most western countries, you get stray cats because dumbass lazy mofo owners got bored or can’t be fucked looking after their animal property.

I don’t mind people who eat cats as long as if they don’t have to force others to eat it.

If you don’t like the owners of the cats making lunch of their property, then don’t go to China or cry about it. If you want to do something, use your money and buy the cats and set up a sanctuary.

smickno

@Peteryang

You did a great job, using only your fingers on keyboard, with your description on what cruelty means. Next time I go to a KFC restaurant, I will remember your words.

Peteryang

@smick

people aint too happy with Kentucky Fried Cruelty either, I didn’t know until lately I saw chicks campaigning in its outlets, nudity however had more of my attention than their stories.

Kit

I think that Chinese cuisine’s use of all the parts of animal for cooking shows more respect for the source of the food than much of Western food. In the Uk most people’s only experience of meat is as pre-packed chicken breasts or steaks on the supermarket shelf.

If you’re a carnivore it seems pretty hypocritical to decide that certain animals should be off the table.

That said, the conditions that many food animals are kept in China is appalling. It’s not just the suffering of the animals themselves, but the risk to public health. SARS and the Avian flu outbreaks have been laid at the door of overcrowded husbandry situations.

WTF?

So why do cats get a priority over cows, pigs, chickens and ducks.

What a fucking animal racist!!! Putting cats above other animals because it’s cats

That’s like saying white people are more superior to black guys.

Animal racist.

krdr

When famous Serbian journalist (and maybe most renowned sinologist in Serbia) visited China after 7 years, his comment on new Beijing was: “There’s so many cats!”

I think I would eat a cat if I didn’t eat for two weeks (or maybe less). When it comes to famine, you wouldn’t say: “This kitty is so sweet, let her go”. You would say: “Damn! Pint of beer would be nice with kitty… Oh, well… Come kitty,kitty…”

Cats and dogs are “famine food”. Food that would be eaten in case of famine. Centuries of famine in China made cats and dogs acceptable food in other cases.

I know I can’t intellectually justify advocating the eating of one type of animal whilst condemning the eating of another but I found those pictures of those poor cats REALLY upsetting :( It’s a cultural thing I suppose innit

Lee

Amazing, China is moving in the right direction and becoming more compassionate nation. I am always shocked at how the Chinese people treat animals without any regard to suffering faced the animals they slaughter. You should see the video clip send out by animal rights groups, skinning of animals alive or putting live animals in boiling water.

skljfsadopif

If man must eat meat, try babies and seniors! They’re less useful and won’t know what’s going on plus you’d be saving the planet by population control. Babies are good for stir-fry or barbecue and old people are good for stew or stock. Oh, no more tax-payer’s money on wasteful executions, criminals are just delicious if not more so. It makes my mouth water just thinking about it.

Rick in China

@Kit
Clearly you aren’t aware of how animals are used in the UK, or ‘western’ parts of the world. Let me enlighten you.
RE: “In the Uk most people’s only experience of meat is as pre-packed chicken breasts or steaks on the supermarket shelf.”
From their visual experience, this may be true. Where do you think ‘processed’ meat comes from? Hot dogs aren’t ground up beef flank, my man. The “not so appealing” parts of animals from most western perspectives is still used – not thrown away – just in different ways….look it up.

Ronnie

@skljfsadopif, you certainly have a peculiar sense of humor. But from a ‘foodal’ perspective, what you said is entirely true. I’m wondering if cannibalism can ever make its way back to a gourmet’s menu. Definitely a valid point though

too yellow

So PETA opened a Chinese chapter? the post sign looks very similar to the PETA ones outside of my school cafeteria, they want everyone to be vegan… I guess that’s the next step.

Kay

kill a cat and eat it… i hope you have forever genital herpes on your tiny weens that will spread to your whole body… where is the humanity in these people.. they are nothing but beasts who take pleasure in killing and torturing them knowing that these poor animals have no way of escaping this

WTF?

@buddyuk

“It’s a cultural thing I suppose innit” :bitchslap:

Yeah just like how you keep chicken couped in cages for their whole lives so you can chew on a KFC meal or eat your scrambled eggs. Or how the upper class say it’s fine to go fox hunting, or how about horse racing and it’s fine to hit them with a whip to make them go faster.

Guess it is a cultural thing ain’t it? retard………….

blackasianlover

I eat meat. I don’t eat dogs and cats because the society I grew up in frowns upon that. Other than that I seriously don’t see what’s wrong with ingesting dog/catmeat

Rick in China

@Kay
Killing a cat or dog for food does not equate to “killing and torturing” – would you feel any different should these animals be killed in a “humane” as in equally humane to other meat products you see at any foreign grocery store method?

The question is really whether or not Cats or Dogs bred for eating (eh, they’re bred for eating, not stolen from people’s homes or snatched off the street….at least not commonly to my knowledge) have any more rights then pigs, chickens, cows, frogs, various birds, turkeys, whatever.